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Tsvangirai says he'd accept Zimbabwe
premiership

International Herald Tribune

The Associated PressPublished: August 16,
2008

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa: Zimbabwe's opposition chief
would accept the prime minister's post and concede the presidency - and
command of the military - to Robert Mugabe to settle a political crisis in
his country, the Associated Press learned Saturday.

Morgan Tsvangirai
outlined his proposal for resolving the contentious issue of who would lead
any unity government in a speech to regional Cabinet ministers gathered on
the eve of a Southern African Development Community summit. The Associated
Press obtained a copy of the speech on Saturday, the day the summit
opened.

Tsvangirai's proposal, which he said his Movement for Democratic
Change has presented in deadlocked negotiations with Mugabe's ZANU-PF party,
would mean a major curbing of the powers Mugabe has wielded since the
country gained independence in 1980.

But it also would leave
Tsvangirai working closely with a leader he has reviled as a brutal
dictator.

South African President Thabo Mbeki, who has been mediating
Zimbabwe's power-sharing talks, spent much of the past week in Zimbabwe
trying to push Mugabe and Tsvangirai to strike a deal. The question of
Mugabe's role has been a major sticking point, with the longtime president
reportedly refusing to yield any power and his administration publicly
mocking Tsvangirai's claim to have the mandate to lead Zimbabwe.

In
his speech to southern African leaders Friday, Tsvangirai said the two sides
remained unable to agree on how powers would be divided between him and
Mugabe. A South African Cabinet minister closely involved in the talks,
Sydney Mufamadi, said Saturday that a deal was close but said it was unclear
if a breakthrough would come during the summit.

Tsvangirai had walked
out of talks in Harare on Tuesday, but his chief negotiator said Saturday
that the negotiations were back on track.

"We're talking here," Tendai
Biti said after attending the opening session of the SADC
summit.

Friday, Tsvangirai said compromise was necessary because
Zimbabweans would reject a deal "if any party is greedy."

"We have
agreed that Mr. Mugabe will be president whilst I become prime minister," he
told the SADC ministers. "We envisage that the prime minister must chair the
Cabinet and be responsible for the formulation, execution and administration
of government business including appointing and dismissing his ministers
.... A prime minister cannot be given responsibility without authority and
be expected to deliver."

Tsvangirai, whose party won the most seats in
parliament in March elections, proposes that the president have no power to
veto laws. The opposition also proposes that the president "shall be
commander in chief of the defense forces of Zimbabwe," but exercise that
power on the advice of the prime minister.

Tsvangirai came first in a
field of four in the first round of presidential voting in March, but did
not win by the margin necessary to avoid a runoff against second-place
finisher Mugabe. Tsvangirai withdrew from the June 27 runoff because of
attacks on his supporters blamed on Mugabe's party militants and security
forces.

Mugabe held the runoff, and was declared the overwhelming winner,
though the exercise was widely denounced.

On Saturday, Tsvangirai sat
just behind Cabinet ministers from the region during the opening session of
the summit, while Mugabe sat at the front table with other heads of
state.

British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said in a statement from
London that the summit offers Africans an important opportunity to support
the power-sharing negotiations, adding: "The outside world continues to
watch developments in Zimbabwe closely and with concern, not least given the
deteriorating humanitarian situation."

German Development Minister
Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul called on Zimbabwe's neighbors "finally to make
fully clear to Robert Mugabe that a new government in Zimbabwe that must
reflect the will of the Zimbabwean population is necessary."

The
South Africans, appointed mediators by SADC, helped guide Mugabe and
Tsvangirai to sign a memorandum of understanding July 21 establishing a
framework for negotiations. Mbeki praised that agreement Saturday and said
the SADC would continue working "to help put Zimbabwe on the right road to
its recovery."

Mbeki has insisted on quiet diplomacy. Some have
portrayed his refusal to publicly condemn Mugabe as
appeasement.

Botswana President Seretse Ian Khama refused to attend the
summit to protest Mugabe's welcome as a head of state.

President Levy
Mwanawasa of Zambia, another SADC member, also has been sharply critical of
Mugabe. He remained hospitalized in Paris but in speech read aloud by his
foreign minister, called the events in Zimbabwe a "serious blot on the
culture of democracy in our subregion," singling out for criticism the June
presidential runoff.

In the streets of Johannesburg, several hundred
protesters marched peacefully outside the summit, some holding up red soccer
penalty cards reading: "Mugabe must go."

Tensions over Zimbabwe come
at a time when southern Africa is struggling to unify to fight poverty. SADC
was to launch a free trade agreement Sunday scrapping tariffs on 85 percent
of goods traded among member nations.

Zimbabwe rivals may agree deal Saturday - source

Reuters

Sat 16 Aug
2008, 13:47 GMT

By Stella Mapenzauswa

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) -
Zimbabwe's political rivals may sign a power-sharing agreement to end the
country's political crisis on Saturday after regional leaders discussed a
draft deal at a South African summit, a diplomatic source said.

The
source said a draft power-sharing agreement to end more than month of
negotiations was being discussed on Saturday afternoon in a closed session
of a summit of the 14-member Southern African Development Community (SADC)
in Johannesburg.

"The parties might even sign tonight," said the
source, who is close to the talks.

South African President Thabo
Mbeki said earlier that the summit of regional leaders could help Zimbabwe's
rival parties complete the talks.

"This summit affords us the possibility
to assist the Zimbabwean parties to finalise their negotiations so that
together they can ... work to achieve national healing and reconciliation,"
Mbeki said at the start of a two-day SADC summit.

Mbeki, mandated by
the SADC to mediate an end to post-election turmoil in Zimbabwe, urged a
quick resolution to the country's crisis.

"I'm certain that the millions
of Zimbabweans both inside and outside the country await with great
expectations and high hopes a positive outcome from our deliberations," he
said.

Mbeki met participants in the talks on Friday. Zimbabwean President
Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF party said discussions would continue at the
summit.

The South African leader, criticised for not taking a tough line
with Mugabe, would score a political coup if an agreement were reached
during the meeting.

Mugabe sat on the stage with other Southern
African leaders at the summit opening ceremony while the leader of
Zimbabwe's opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), Morgan
Tsvangirai, sat in an observers' gallery.

Mbeki's spokesman said he had
separate meetings with Mugabe, Arthur Mutambara, the leader of a breakaway
MDC faction, and Tsvangirai on Friday.

REGIONAL PRESSURE

Asked how
optimistic he was that talks would succeed, MDC Secretary-General Tendai
Biti replied: "Fifty-fifty". Both he and Tsvangirai declined to answer
further questions.

The Zimbabwean rivals are under increasing pressure to
reach a power-sharing deal.

Botswana President Seretse Khama Ian
Khama's decision to boycott the summit was a sign of growing pressure from
regional leaders on Mugabe and the opposition.

Botswana has taken the
toughest position among Zimbabwe's neighbours, but all fear the consequences
if its political stalemate and economic decline lead to total
meltdown.

Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa, recovering from a stroke in
France, said in a statement read on his behalf that events in Zimbabwe were
"a serious blot on the culture of democracy in our
sub-region."

Millions of Zimbabweans have fled across the borders to
escape the world's highest inflation rate of 2.2 million percent, widespread
unemployment and shortages of food and fuel.

Power-sharing
negotiations began last month after Mugabe's unopposed re-election in June,
condemned throughout the world and boycotted by Tsvangirai because of
attacks on his supporters.

Tsvangirai has said Zimbabwe's post-election
government should be based on the result of the first-round presidential
election on March 29, which he won but without a clear
majority.

Three days of marathon discussions this week between Mugabe,
Tsvangirai and Mutambara ended after the MDC leader refused to agree to a
proposed power-sharing deal.

The South African labour federation
COSATU held a protest at the start of the summit, with demonstrators
carrying placards calling for SADC action on Zimbabwe. "SADC stop Mugabe's
madness" and "Zimbabwe bleeds while SADC sleeps", placards read.

Zimbabwe's
neighbors vow to help resolve crisis

DONNA BRYSONOriginally published
11:32 a.m., August 16, 2008JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA (AP) - Zimbabwe's
bitter factions are close to a power-sharing agreement in talks mediated by
South Africa, an aide to South African President Thabo Mbeki said
Saturday.

Mbeki, speaking Saturday at the opening of a regional summit,
has spent much of the past week in Zimbabwe trying to push Zimbabwean
President Robert Mugabe and his rival Morgan Tsvangirai to strike a deal to
resolve the country's protracted political crisis.

Chances that Mbeki
would be able to present an agreement at the summit appeared slim after
Tsvangirai walked out of talks in Harare on Tuesday, but an opposition
official said the negotiations were back on track.

"We're talking, here,"
Tendai Biti, Tsvangirai's top negotiator, said after attending the opening
session of the summit of the Southern African Development Community, or
SADC.

Biti sat with Tsvangirai just behind Cabinet ministers from the
region during the opening session, while Mugabe sat at the front table with
other heads of state.

Tsvangirai and Mugabe both claim the mandate to
lead Zimbabwe, stalling power-sharing talks over the issue of who should
have the main role in any unity government. But a South African Cabinet
minister closely involved in the talks was optimistic of a
deal.

"We're close," Sydney Mufamadi said. "We're now relying on the
collective wisdom of this leadership."

The regional summit was
drawing the world's attention. British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said
in a statement from London that the meeting offers Africans an important
opportunity to support the negotiations, saying: "The outside world
continues to watch developments in Zimbabwe closely and with concern, not
least given the deteriorating humanitarian situation. We will do all we can
to help."

German Development Minister Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul called on
Zimbabwe's neighbors "finally to make fully clear to Robert Mugabe that a
new government in Zimbabwe that must reflect the will of the Zimbabwean
population is necessary."

The South Africans, appointed mediators by
SADC, helped guide Mugabe and Tsvangirai to sign a memorandum of
understanding July 21 establishing a framework for negotiations. Mbeki
praised that agreement Saturday and said the SADC would continue working "to
help put Zimbabwe on the right road to its recovery.

"We are towards
them their brothers' and sisters' keepers," Mbeki said.

Mbeki has
insisted on quiet diplomacy, and some have portrayed his refusal to publicly
condemn Mugabe as appeasing a leader seen as increasingly
autocratic.

Botswana's President Seretse Ian Khama refused to attend
the summit to protest Mugabe's welcome as a head of state.

President
Levy Mwanawasa of Zambia also has been sharply critical of Mugabe but
remained hospitalized in Paris because of a stroke. But in a speech read
aloud by his foreign minister, he called events in Zimbabwe a "serious blot
on the culture of democracy in our subregion," singling out for criticism
Zimbabwe's presidential runoff.

Tsvangirai came first in a field of
four in the first round of presidential voting in March, but did not win by
the margin necessary to avoid a runoff against second-place finisher Mugabe.
Tsvangirai withdrew from the June 27 runoff because of attacks on his
supporters blamed on Mugabe's party militants and security
forces.

Mugabe held the runoff and was declared the overwhelming winner,
though the exercise was widely denounced.

In the streets of
Johannesburg, several hundred protesters marched peacefully outside the
summit to protest Mugabe's presence. Some held up red soccer penalty cards
that read: "Mugabe must go."

Tensions over Zimbabwe come at a time when
southern Africa is struggling to unify to fight poverty. SADC was to launch
a free trade agreement Sunday scrapping tariffs on 85 percent of goods
traded among member nations.

COSATU, ZCTU, march against Mugabe, Mswati

COSATU and other labour unions march against Mugabe
and Mswati presence at the SADC summit

The Congress of South African Trade Unions led a march against the
participation of the governments of Robert Mugabe and King Mswati

J'burg -- The Congress of South African
Trade Unions led a march against the participation of the governments of
Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe and Swaziland King Mswati to the Southern
African Development Community summit held in Sandton, Johannesburg on
Saturday.

Spokesperson for the union body,
Patrick Craven, said marchers had arrived at the Sandton convention centre where
the summit was being held, and were holding a meeting outside.

"It's
going very well," he said.

A declaration made by Zimbabwean and Swaziland
civil society delegates at a Solidarity Conference organised by Cosatu and held
on August 10-11 read: "We hold dear the firm view that Robert Mugabe and Mswati
III are not legitimate leaders of their various countries.

"They cannot
claim any amount of legitimacy to rule their countries, for they have not been
democratically elected by the peoples of their countries.

"Therefore, as
representatives of civil society, we condemn the behaviour of these two leaders
and take it upon ourselves to expose them and their unacceptable behaviour
before the eyes of the world," the declaration read.

Zimbabwean
organisations who took part in the march included the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade
Unions, Revolutionary Youth of Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe Solidarity Forum, Zimbabwe
Exiles and the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition.

Swaziland organisations who
took part in the march were the Swaziland Federation of Trade Unions, the
Swaziland United Democratic Front, the Swaziland Federation of Labour, the
Swaziland Youth Congress and the People's United Democratic
Movement.

South African organisations who took part in the march included
the Treatment Action Campaign and the Anti-Privatisation Forum.

Sandton
police spokesperson Constable Neria Malefetse said there had been no reports of
incidents during the march.

Officers were monitoring the march to ensure
that it was peaceful and that everyone was safe, she said.

Zambia
slams Mugabe's re-election as 'blot on democracy'

JOHANNESBURG - Zambia on Saturday slammed Zimbabwe President Robert
Mugabe's controversial re-election as a 'blot on democracy'.

"In
Zimbabwe, the regrettable events leading to and including the holding of the
run-off elections on 27th June 2008 have no doubt left a serious blot on the
culture of democracy in our sub-region," Zambian Foreign Minister Kabinga
Pande said at the opening of a regional summit.

He was addressing the
14-nation Southern African Development Community (SADC) summit on behalf of
Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa, who remains in hospital after suffering a
stroke in June.

"Not only were these events alien to our region, but they
also brought into question in some quarters the integrity of SADC as an
institution capable of promoting the rule of law and democratic
governance."

Mwanawasa has previously said it was "scandalous for SADC to
remain silent on Zimbabwe".

Mugabe was re-elected in the June run-off
poll widely condemned as a sham.

Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai
boycotted the run-off despite finishing ahead of Mugabe in the first round
of the election in March, citing rising violence against his
supporters.

Zambia and Botswana have been among Mugabe's harshest critics
in the region.

Botswana President Ian Khama stayed away from the summit
after his government said it did not recognise Mugabe's re-election.

Zimbabwe opposition figure says
political compromise urgent

The Zimbabwe opposition's number two leader said
Saturday the nation's rivals must find a compromise so work can begin on
turning around the country's economic freefall.

"The bottom line is
that the two main parties in Zimbabwe have to come to some compromise for
the good and betterment of the people of Zimbabwe," Tendai Biti told
reporters at a regional summit in South Africa.

He added later: "Our
people are suffering ... the situation is a disaster and an urgent solution
is called for."

Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe and opposition chief
Morgan Tsvangirai attended the summit, where negotiators were aiming for a
solution to end a prolonged political crisis.

Power-sharing talks
adjourned earlier this week after three days of negotiations between Mugabe,
Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara, the head of a smaller opposition
faction.

South African President Thabo Mbeki has mediated the
negotiations.

"I can't go into the merits of what are the sticking
issues, but if you are not going to compromise then there is no point in
dialoguing," said Biti, secretary general and chief negotiatior of the
Movement for Democratic Change.

He said the "people's will" was
reflected in Zimbabwe's March 29 first round presidential election, when
Tsvangirai finished ahead of Mugabe.

The opposition leader boycotted the
June run-off, citing violence against his supporters.

"It is the duty
of everyone to recognize the people's will as reflected on the 29th of March
2008," Biti said.

AU chief salutes Mbeki's mediation efforts

African Union Commission chief Jean Ping
on Saturday saluted South African President Thabo Mbeki's mediation efforts
in Zimbabwe in comments made at the opening of a regional
summit.

"I express my gratitude to President Thabo Mbeki for the
tireless efforts that he has shown in helping our Zimbabwean brothers
overcome their differences and to take on in the interest of Zimbabweans the
new challenges that confront their country," Ping said.

The AU
was working closely with the 14-nation Southern African Development
Community and Mbeki on the issue, he said in remarks at SADC's
summit.

On Friday, Ping said the AU was keeping an eye on the
negotiations.

"If a sub-region succeeds to solve a problem in a
country of the same region, we will applaud," he said. "But we monitor, we
have to watch. Shouldn't the process be successful, we will
intervene."

Zimbabwe's political crisis was high on the agenda of
the regional summit, with President Robert Mugabe and his arch-rival,
opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, both in attendance.

SADC 'to endorse Mugabe as legitimate

'He's come to SA, but
Botswana wants no part of itAugust 16, 2008 Edition 1

Hans
Pienaar

The SADC will today endorse Robert Mugabe's claim to be the
legitimate president of Zimbabwe by excluding opposition leaders Morgan
Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara from its 28th summit.

The endorsement
will come despite the boycott by President Ian Khama of Botswana of the
summit because of the invitation to Mugabe, and in the face of several calls
from organisations all across the region for the summit to declare Mugabe's
presidency illegitimate.

Some will be joining a march in Sandton today to
protest against Mugabe's presence at the summit, as well as that of
Swaziland's King Mswati III, mainly because his "feudalist" regime bans
political parties. The king will take over as the chair of the organ on
security and politics on Sunday, the committee of the summit tasked with
dealing with crises like that in Zimbabwe.

The leaders of the two
factions of the Movement for Democratic Change have been invited to the
summit, SA Foreign Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma said at a Press
conference last night in Sandton. But they were only scheduled to address
the troika of the organ at the "summit level". The troika consists of the
current chairman, Jose dos Santos of Angola, Mswati and Tanzania's Jaya
Kikwete.

SADC is an inter-governmental organisation, and inter-political,
Dlamini-Zuma said, and the summit would therefore only be joined by
Mugabe.

Executive secretary Tomaz Salamao said SADC was a family, and the
absence of one member could not be allowed to undermine the presence of the
other 13 heads of state.

Zambia's ailing President Levy Mwanawasa
will send a special representative.

Tsvangirai yesterday held discussions
with President Thabo Mbeki after being held briefly at Harare airport on his
way to the summit. The delay led to him missing his flight.

Asked for
comment, Dlamini-Zuma said Tsvangirai's "detention", as she called it, was
unacceptable to South Africa, "especially in the context of trying to
resolve the Zimbabwe situation".

It was not clear whether the matter
would be raised with Mugabe at the summit.

On Khama's non-attendance,
Dlamini-Zuma said Botswana was a sovereign state, and that his decision
would not diminish the importance of unity within SADC. It would actually
make it important, she said.

All eyes will be on this morning's opening
ceremony. Last year Mugabe was given a standing ovation when he entered the
summit, held in Lusaka.

Meanwhile, Basildon Peta reports that Mbeki
appeared to be involved in a "final push" to encourage an agreement among
Zimbabwe's warring parties ahead of a today's summit.

Late yesterday
he was meeting Mugabe who is already in the country.

Mbeki's spokesperson
Mukoni Ratshitanga confirmed his meeting with Mugabe. He said Mbeki would
also meet Arthur Mutambara, leader of a smaller faction of the MDC, before
meeting MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai last night.

Asked why Mbeki was
meeting the leaders separately when he had just sat with them around the
same table in Harare, Ratshitanga said: "Anyone familiar with conflict
resolution processes around the world will not attach any value to that
question. At some point you meet them as a group (when resolving a
conflict). At some point you meet them individually. This is not complicated
mathematics."

Ratshitanga dismissed questions about whether Mbeki was
involved in a "final push" as "deeply offensive".

"When we visited
Zimbabwe the other time, you people (media) said we were eager to get a deal
to please the G8 as if all our visits to Zimbabwe have preceded G8
summits.

"We are doing what we are doing because we are committed to
helping parties in Zimbabwe resolve the challenges in our neighbouring
country. We are not doing it to get a deal to parade at summits as if we
were beauty queens on the ramp," he said.

Mbeki's Zimbabwe
intervention has stalled over Tsvangirai's demand for executive powers in
line with the March 29 election he won. Tsvangirai has rejected a
power-sharing deal he believes would relegate him to a "ceremonial prime
minister's position" with Mugabe still in charge.

Mbeki Faces Tough Test

OhMyNews

Zimbabwe unity talks still
bleak

Nelson G. Katsande

Published 2008-08-16 14:19
(KST)

South African President Thabo Mbeki carries a heavy load in trying
to get Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and opposition leader Morgan
Tsvangirai of the Movement for Democratic Change to sign a unity agreement.
Mbeki, still tainted by his perceived softly, softly approach to Mugabe, is
determined to have the two parties work harmoniously together.

Mbeki,
who had in the past refused to acknowledge that there was a crisis in
Zimbabwe, suffered a backlash when thousands of his fellow South Africans
set upon immigrants, especially Zimbabweans, burning down their houses and
attacking them with machetes and stones.

The South African president
knows that securing the unity accord will give him acclaimed international
recognition.

The political stalemate in Zimbabwe follows Mugabe's defeat
to Tsvangirai in the March 29 presidential poll. Mugabe refused to concede
defeat and called for a rerun election. The militia and war veterans then
embarked on a terror campaign ahead of the rerun election, prompting
Tsvangirai to withdraw his candidature.

Tsvangirai's withdrawal gave
Mugabe the opportunity to snatch victory and extend his presidential term.
But it is these unity negotiations that have taken center stage, with the
two parties failing to reach a consensus. Despite the ongoing talks, a
defiant Mugabe still attacks his rival, accusing him of being used by the
British.

In his address to the nation to mark the heroes commemorations
this week, Mugabe said, "Zimbabwe was not for sale." This reminded me of an
article I wrote in 2006, "Zimbabwe for Sale."

For once I thought --
could Mugabe be responding to the article?

With reports of fresh farm
invasions and continued brutal attacks on opposition supporters from
Mugabe's supporters and war veterans, the unity talks are unlikely to be
fruitful. The opposition has also failed to recognize Mugabe as the
legitimate Zimbabwe president, insisting that he stole the
vote.

There has also been international condemnation on Mugabe with calls
for him to vacate office. But with Mugabe vowing to stay put, the people of
Zimbabwe will have to endure another five-year term of hardship. The
government has failed to provide solutions to the worsening economic
climate, high unemployment and shortage of basic food
necessities.

Government hospitals are ill funded. Most of the equipment
is in a state of disrepair. Ambulances lie idle due to shortage of fuel and
spare parts. Doctors and nurses have fled to neighboring countries in search
of greener pastures.

Tsvangirai is seen by many as the only hope and
savior who can help bring back the much needed funding.

A source
within the ruling ZANU-PF told OhmyNews Friday that most senior ZANU-PF
officials are opposed to the ongoing unity talks. ZANU-PF wants Tsvangirai
to have limited powers as prime minister, with Mugabe as
president.

Mrs. Veremu, a ZANU-PF supporter said, "Mugabe should
admit that his time is up. We want a new Zimbabwe with vibrant young
leaders."

There is also division among ZANU-PF loyalists, with some
suggesting that Mugabe should retire. Others, however, feel that without
Mugabe the party will be doomed. In the past there have been reports of a
power struggle in the party regarding Mugabe's succession.

Mugabe
refuses to discuss succession issues. Zimbabwe is currently experiencing its
worst economic crisis since attaining independence from Britain in 1980.
Mugabe blames Britain and America for his country's
problems.

Analysts, however, say Mugabe's land reform program was the
cause of the problems. In 2000, the government seized farms from white
commercial farmers. More than 3,000 farmers were displaced as war veterans
occupied their land. Most of the land has remained underutilized due to lack
of farming skills and capital.

Talks secrecy a betrayal of
Zimbabwean people

Elsewhere,
I have maintained that the best solution to have come out of the Zimbabwean
crisis would have been to safeguard the electoral process and allow the
people to choose their leaders through the ballot. This process would have
been easily done by way of calling for observers and monitors with the
correct military muscle should there be trouble. The winner would then set
up new dispensation while the loser would attend marathon court cases on
human rights, whatever the case might be. The idea of power sharing has and
will create a bad precedent for Africa and events of the past weeks bear
testimony.

It has been quite sad to note that one of the most important
tenets of a democratic society - access to information - has not been upheld
by the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). The MDC would have
shown the world its commitment to access to information as a ground rule for
the talks. Sadly, the blanket of secrecy on the talks have left us
wondering whether it is for our own good that such a process we had imagined
to be important secludes us, the concerned.

It does not make sense
why a draft would not have been discussed with representatives from civil
society. It further begs the question why Robert Mugabe must be lured to
cede executive powers on some cushion of amnesty! Furthermore, nobody knows
why the talks must be hidden from us, the citizens, who pushed the MDC
closer to a negotiating table. We also do not understand why the MDC would
view Mugabe's land-grab as a land revolution, when it was done in clear
circumstances of a man politicking from the need for land by the Svosve
people.

Yet, the MDC has been sold another dummy, probably as it
anxiously tries to ascend to power. Just as all of Joshua Nkomo's powers
were diluted, sharing power with Mugabe can and will never yield what we
desire. Mugabe is a veteran negotiator whom the MDC should not have trusted
at any one point. He once made the party sign some Constitutional amendment,
never implemented. And, now the MDC will go hook, line and sinker to the
detriment of Africa as a whole.

Our desires, as a reminder, are still
simplistic, yet we continue to be taken for a ride. All Zimbabwe wants
is:

*Access to information;

*Right to political satisfaction
through the ballot and, above all, our very right to kick Mugabe out of
power.

Clutton Patsika a Zimbabwean journalist with The
Southern Cross, a Catholic weekly has worked in a senior capacity for
various newspapers in Zimbabwe including the Zimbabwe Daily Mirror and Daily
News all shut down by the government. He specialises in development
communication and popular culture. Trained in the UK, Japan and Zimbabwe,
Clutton, believes that effective communication is achieved through simple
ordinary day language. He survives by the grace of God as journalism is
banned in Zimbabwe, unless you pander.

Kirsty strikes GOLD for Zimbabwe

She won her first Beijing Olympics Gold medal in a two minute thriller, and
smashed yet another world record. In a breathtaking 2:05.24 dash to victory,
Kirsty took an early lead in the Women’s 200m backstroke, setting the pace ahead
of former world record holder Margaret Hoelzer of the United States. Hoelzer is
Kirsty’s former teammate and training partner at Auburn University in Alabama in
the United States.

The gold medal is Coventry’s fourth win in Beijing. She earned silver medals
in the 400m Individual Medley, 100m Backstroke, and 200m Individual Medley
races. Kirsty has now won seven of Zimbabwe’s eight Olympic medals to date.
She holds all of Zimbabwe’s four medals from the Beijing 2008 Olympics.

Kirsty Leigh Coventry was born in Harare, Zimbabwe September 16, 1983. She
attended Dominican Convent High School in Zimbabwe. In 2000, while still in high
school, Coventry became the first Zimbabwean swimmer to reach the semi-finals at
the Olympics and was named Zimbabwe’s Sports Woman of the Year.

At the 2004 Summer Olympics, in Athens, Greece, Coventry won three Olympic
medals, a gold, a silver and a bronze. She returned to a tumultuous welcome in
Harare.

Coventry won the silver medal in the 400m individual medley in Beijing on
August 10, becoming the second woman to swim the medley in under 4:30, the first
being Stephanie Rice who won the gold in the same event. Coventry beat the world
record by just under two seconds, and was only just beaten by Rice to a new
world record.

Coventry, in the second semi-final of the 100m Backstroke, set a new world
Record of 58.77 seconds. However, in the final of that event she was beaten to
the gold medal by Natalie Coughlin. Coventry was again beaten by Stephanie Rice
in the 200m individual medley, despite swimming under the old world record.

Coventry’s final strike of Gold no doubt validates her hard-earned status in
Zimbabwe as both a “national treasure” and the “golden
girl”.

Charamba
leaked Talks Documents to The Herald

InvestigationsAugust 16, 2008 | By
Metro Investigations Unit |In what could be mounting evidence that key
people close to Mugabe could be scuttling talks with the MDC, a herald
staffer has revealed that the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of
Information George Charamba gave the state paper the highly sensitive talks
documents to publish.

'We were surprised when Charamba gave us the
documents way before the talks were concluded on Tuesday afternoon,and
specifically told the headline should read ' New dawn:Deal sealed', we
published some of the document contents the following day',the source
revealed.

'At first we thought indeed a deal has been reached,but
Charamba called us back with specific instructions on what the story should
say', added the source

On Wednesday The Herald published the
documents under the headline:Tsvangirai U-Turn : The facts,in which it
claimed that MDC negotiators Tendai Biti and Elton Mangoma were authorised
to sign 13 agreements.

The paper went on to list the agreements among
them the issue of sanctions,it said;

'On the 25th of July, Tsvangirai
agreed that sanctions were not targeted and the Western economic embargo was
hurting the nation and should be lifted as a matter of urgency.

"All
forms of measures and sanctions against Zimbabwe (must) be lifted in order
to facilitate a sustainable solution to the challenges that are currently
facing Zimbabwe."

The Herald claims however contradict with what MDC
National Chairman,Lovemore Moyo , who was also part of the expanded
negotiating team said, Moyo said the MDC flatly refused at the talks to
speak out against a targeted travel ban on Mugabe and some senior ZANU PF
members.

"The document we signed was clear that we refused responsibility
for calling off the sanctions and clearly stated that it was not us who said
Zanu PF supporters should beat up and rape people," Moyo said.

There
is mounting evidence that George Charamba could be scuttling talks,on the
same day Charamba ordered the arrest of MDC media support staffer Andrew
Chadwick at the Rainbow towers.Last week in his weekly column "Nathaniel
Manheru",Charamba accused him of leaking a document to The Star last week
which outlined the talks proposal and he called him a 'rapist of
truth'.

The MDC has since accused Charamba of violating the MOU agreement
several times by using hate language.

In his infamous column in the
state newspaper The Herald Charamba implied that MDC leader,Morgan
Tsvangirai was half human.

".the current talks involve a political
Minotaur (a part human and part bull creature) shaped and disfigured..',
wrote CharambaThe vilification prompted an MDC official who requested
anonymity to lash out,'These are the same people we are talking to so as to
find a common solution to our nation 's problems,yet Charamba continues to
use this kind of language. How do they expect to work with us if they don't
respect our leader?',he asked.

"There are some in our (MDC) party who
are treating these talks with utmost scepticism knowing ZANU PF's solid
history of insincerity,the ongoing violence,intimidation,NGO ban and
Charamba's language, these things just serve to harden their positions.",
the official a newly elected Member of Parliament said.

"When the
talks broke off on Tuesday, it became clear that not everyone in Zanu-PF
wants the deal," another well-placed source said yesterday.

"The leak of
negotiating documents to the state press . . . is another indication. The
documents were leaked by a member of the cabinet. We also expect
violence."

Charamba belongs to the Mnagagwa faction and was major player
in the ill-fated Ndiyane plot in December 2004 which was meant to catapult
Mnagagwa to the vice presidency, Charamba drafted a speech for Mnangagwa for
the event and hired a plane for the meeting.

The Mnagagwa faction is
reportedly strongly opposed to any meaningful power sharing deal and is in
favour of a cosmetic deal through accommodating a willing partner, the
Mutambara faction. Already almost all 10 Mutambara faction MPs have been
approached by the faction,some using close friends.

About twenty
MDC-Tsvangirai MPs have already been approached by the faction,including a a
female MP from Bulawayo and was offered a bribe. The legislator told SW
Radio Africa she was offered government tenders for her business and a car,
if she voted for a speaker of parliament from the Mnangagwa faction of ZANU
PF.

Axe
Looms on ZBH Workers

HARARE, August 16 2008 - Several senior Zimbabwe
Broadcasting Holdings workers who were suspended have been recalled by the
struggling parastatal but fear that they could be retrenched, Radio VOP can
reveal.

In an exclusive interview on Friday, former news
editor Patrice Makova, said while they had been asked to come back there was
a likelihood that they could be retrenched as the ZBC reluctantly re-engaged
them.

"We are back but they are talking about retrenching us,"
he said.

He said most senior line editors were back on their
desks but they could also face the dreaded chop.

The
workers were fired after being accused of siding with the MDC during the pre
and post election period.

The suspended workers, who included
various line editors, said the move was a clear case of political
victimisation by Information and Publicity Secretary, George
Charamba.

Charamba doubles as President Robert Mugabe's
spokesperson.

Charamba this year fired the organisation's Chief
Executive, Henry Muradzikwa and replaced him with Happison Muchechetere, a
former freedom fighter in President Robert Mugabe's ruling Zanu PF
army.

Muchechetere toes the party line and is already unpopular
at the organisation.

South Africa's
Constitutional Court has instructed officials in Gauteng province not to
dismantle six temporary shelters housing foreigners forced to flee their
homes by xenophobic violence, pending a ruling on the issue, the United
Nations said today.

Today was the deadline announced by the provincial
government for the closure of the camps, whose residents are mostly
Zimbabweans, as well as people from the Democratic Republic of the Congo
(DRC), Somalia, Mozambique, Burundi and Rwanda.

"Most of the sites
are still intact and although some of the people have left in anticipation
of the closure, there remains a substantial number of people in those
camps," Yusuf Hassan, spokesman for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees
(UNHCR) in South Africa, told UN Radio today.

A spate of xenophobic
attacks in May on foreigners and ethnic minorities in South Africa claimed
the lives of 56 people. UNHCR says that while most of the 40,000 people
displaced by the violence have returned to their home within the country,
some 8,000 people remain at camps in Johannesburg and Cape Town.

Mr.
Hassan said that at the moment there are about 3,500 people in six sites in
Gauteng and another 4,500 in the Western Cape.

The agency has completed
an assessment of those remaining in the camps and, along with its partners,
is assisting them with cash donations.

The Constitutional Court is
expected to resume its consideration of the case on Monday.

S.Africa police fire rubber bullets after Zimbabwean shacks
burnt

JOHANNESBURG (AFP) - Police fired rubber bullets to
disperse around 50 people after two shacks belonging to Zimbabwean
immigrants were burnt in the north of South Africa, authorities said
Saturday.

The incident erupted after a Lesotho man stabbed a Zimbabwean
in a tavern on Friday night, causing a fight to break out, said police
captain Adele Myburgh.

Two shacks in the Bokfontein area were then
set alight, she said. Police responded and found a "chaotic" scene involving
some 50 people, said Myburgh, then fired rubber bullets to disperse
them.

Police had earlier said the incident appeared to be a "xenophobic"
attack, SAPA news agency reported.

But authorities were no longer
considering it an anti-immigrant attack since they had determined it started
from the incident between the Lesotho man and the Zimbabwean, Myburgh
said.

A wave of violence that broke out in May saw South Africans drive
foreigners out of townships, mainly in the economic capital Johannesburg,
where residents accuse immigrants of taking jobs and blame them for high
crime rates.

The world's worst
inflation

(Fortune Magazine) -- If
purchased on the newsstand in Zimbabwe, the issue of Fortune you're holding
would have cost you 270,543,825,555 Zimbabwean dollars. But don't worry
about pulling your Weimar-era wheelbarrows out of storage. As of July you
could pay for your magazine with three newly issued $100 billion
bills.

This is what Robert Mugabe's government considers a reasonable
strategy for coping with an inflation rate of more than 2,000,000%. Faced
with the prospect of issuing ever more cash, Zimbabwe has opted for simply
issuing bigger cash. And perhaps anticipating unwieldy arithmetic problems
at the cash register, the government has also announced a longer-term plan
to dispense with the zeroes entirely, turning $10 billion into
$1.

The essential clumsiness of these responses betrays the government's
lack of experience in remedying any policy problem with actual policy.
Historically Mugabe's favorite, if only, policy tool is small and steely and
comes in a variety of calibers. But at whom to point the gun? Market forces
fail to manifest themselves in the form of persons who can be threatened
with death and dismemberment.

Sticking a fork in dissidentsIf
anyone is to blame for the economic crisis, it's Mugabe himself. In 28 years
he has managed to take one of the wealthiest countries in sub-Saharan Africa
and ruin it in a stupefying variety of ways. He annihilated the agricultural
sector (once a leading exporter of corn and tobacco) by seizing commercial
farms and giving them to cronies who failed to use the land. In 1998 he
prosecuted a kleptomaniacal war in the Congo, spending $1 million (U.S.) a
day in hopes of stealing enough land and resources from the Congolese to
make a profit. When Zimbabweans have tried to vote him out of office, he has
punished them with violence and economic repression. A passage from "The
State of Africa," by Martin Meredith, recalls the explanation offered to
citizens for cutting off their food supplies: "First you will eat your
chickens, then your goats, then your donkeys. Then you will eat your
children, and finally you will eat the dissidents."

But most of the
dissidents left the country before anyone could stick a fork in them. The
exodus of skilled workers crippled the economy further. Businesses lost
management and assets, while unskilled workers became refugees in
neighboring countries that didn't have the money to support them- the latter
transforming Zimbabwe's economic crisis into a regional one.

That
Mugabe has any resources left to plunder is a function of what is
increasingly a remittance economy. Zimbabwean memoirist Peter Godwin points
out that members of the diaspora are keeping Mugabe in power when the money
they send back to friends and relatives gets confiscated. "Often that money
doesn't even physically get home," says Godwin. Zimbabwe's schools and
health-care system have collapsed, but there's enough money left to pay for
Mugabe's personal priorities: his mansions, wife Grace's shopping sprees,
and loyalty-buying salary hikes for his security forces.

While
Zimbabwe's self-destruction is extreme, other countries have managed to whip
hyperinflation. Dollarization - a switch to a foreign currency - is one
preferred remedy. Another remedy involves restraining government spending, a
practice known as "shock therapy."

The first option is politically
embarrassing for Mugabe (one can't very well issue daily polemics against
the West and then adopt its dominant currency), and Mugabe is
constitutionally incapable of the second. His only quick fix, then, as
international pressure mounts and he is forced into talks with the
opposition party, is to start from scratch - to move the decimal point a few
spaces. But as long as he stays in power, there's nothing to stop the
currency denominations from spiraling upward again as assets leave the
country on the backs of the people. When will the moment of reckoning
finally be at hand? When the bribery money runs out, as it surely will, his
control of the military will erode, and Mugabe may find himself in a
position familiar to the people he has oppressed- looking down the barrel of
a gun.